“Trust me, Rick, I’m not worth it. You’re just a nice guy.” These words were spoken to me two nights ago and were followed by an uncomfortable silence.

The silence was uncomfortable because I couldn’t understand why a woman wouldn’t want to date a nice guy. And what does “JUST a nice guy” mean? Do I need to be a nice guy AND rich?

The term “nice guy” has become an offensive label to many young men like me. I refer to our situations as having a personality disorder called “nice-guy syndrome.” I feel like more women on campus are infatuated with alcohol and animalistic guys. The actual problem is that we nice guys are cursed with maturing faster than other college students.

The University Chronicle published the findings of several studies on dating habits in a 2003 article.

David Buss, a professor at the University of Texas in Austin, was quoted in the article as saying nearly half of 2,484 Midwestern residents aged 20 to 65 admitted to stealing – or borrowing – someone else’s wife, husband, girlfriend or boyfriend.

“Two frequent behaviors are described as ‘mate poaching,’ an attempt to mess with an existing romantic relationship, and ‘mate guarding,’ a counterstrategy to ward off interlopers,” the article read.

Experiences have led me to feel like many nice guys are victims of mate guarding and kept in women’s back pockets until someone more exciting comes around.

Men do this as well, and it angers me when I see a friend doing this to an amazing woman.

But when the relationship finally ends, I see the same woman with a new guy who is exactly like my friend.

Are we really subject to psychological dating habits and do we seek out the same people over and over again?

Maybe those 1,242 people in Buss’ study were locked into a dead-end relationship for so long that they didn’t know how to communicate with or become attracted to non-abusive partners.

Avoiding a life-long cycle of accepting second best is why us nice guys need to change our ways now while we’re still young enough and inexperienced enough to see what we want.

The niceness ends here. I do not want to be a jerk, but will I allow women to take me for a ride until their ex-boyfriends return for more. Let’s step up our self-control and be more selective in whom we decide to pursue.

Women need to start making us happy before we commit our time and effort into a skeptical situation.

One common misunderstanding is that only sex makes us happy. Yes, sex is worthwhile, but there’s more to a relationship than just sex.

The happiness I refer to is effort. Something so simple as watching Family Guy together every other night is happiness.

Talking on the phone every night before bed is happiness. Let’s start a revolution by chasing the worthwhile women and showing them how simply happiness can build the foundation of a relationship and instill trust.

I refuse to be just another statistic in Buss’ next study.

Rick Kambic is a junior journalism major. He can be reached at 581-7942 or DENopinions@gmail.com.